Summer time and the living is…

Summer time and the living is…

Hands up, I’ve been a little… distracted these past few weeks – you can tell from the sporadic blog posts, I’m sure. Anyway, maybe now’s as good a time as any to catch up.

Not that I’ve been up to very much (do hope my publisher isn’t reading this!) No, I’ve had a lovely break with time to spend with my nearest and dearest and this summer, we really did spend the time together.

You see, we’ve taken a mad notion to ‘do’ the kitchen – as only Irish people can. This idea came out of nowhere, really and the fact that we are now six people milling about a kettle, breakfast cereal cupboard and toaster on an average hectic morning, which is a little bizzare, because it’s not as though our house is exactly cramped. Yet, we found ourselves spending most of our time, in fact all of our busiest times in one of the smallest rooms in the house. Mr H, bless him, is full of brilliant ideas and he came up with the notion of knocking two rooms and a corridor into one. We didn’t figure on concrete walls threaded through with ribbons of steel, no television and worse, no WiFi for almost seven weeks!! Argh…

But actually, no. It’s been a great summer, in fact, you might say it’s been just what we needed. My eleven year old agreed that it has really bonded us closer – not that he’s looking to get any more bonded, he’s still missing chatting to his buddies – but it’s an ill wind!

We have played cards, watched movies together, we’ve been kayaking, snorkeling, horse-riding and day tripping. We’ve taken up a number of hobbies, one of which is one we can all share together. We have had the loveliest people come into our home – our builders, real can-do people who have smiled and made us laugh every single day. We have been slung into a tiny sitting room, where kettle, fridge, water and cups are all within arms reach – we can literally make a whole coffee break and wash the dishes without having to leave our seats. We have had invitations to lunch and dinner and had so many takeaways we are all craving healthy food that doesn’t involve a chip or a chicken nugget! And for all that, we have a happier, more content and serene home and I’ve had the best summer I’ve had in a very long time. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always enjoyed holidays – maybe I didn’t know that I was missing anything, but being at the other end of our WiFi drought, I’m a little apprehensive about the turning back on again…

No, we’ve agreed, it’s been an eye-opener and I for one am not willing to allow devices to swallow up the few precious years we have all together for summer holidays…

As far as the books are going— well, it hasn’t been my most productive time, but even with the kango hammer going underneath my office, I did manage over the last two weeks to complete the structual edit on Book 3 and I must say, I’m really excited that it’s on the way now…